The Capital of the
Multipolar World: A Moscow Diary
By Pepe Escobar
April 02, 2023:
Information Clearing House
-- "SCF"
- How sharp was good ol’ Lenin,
prime modernist, when he mused, “there are
decades where nothing happens; and there are
weeks where decades happen”. This global nomad
now addressing you has enjoyed the privilege of
spending four astonishing weeks in Moscow at the
heart of an historical crossroads – culminating
with the Putin-Xi geopolitical game-changing
summit at the Kremlin.
To quote Xi, “changes that haven’t been seen
in 100 years” do have a knack of affecting us
all in more ways than one.
James Joyce, another modernity icon, wrote
that we spend our lives meeting average and/or
extraordinary people, on and on and on, but in
the end we’re always meeting ourselves. I have
had the privilege of meeting an array of
extraordinary people in Moscow, guided by
trusted friends or by auspicious coincidence: in
the end your soul tells you they enrich you and
the overarching historical moment in ways you
can’t even begin to fathom.
Here are some of them. The grandson of Boris
Pasternak, a gifted young man who teaches
Ancient Greek at Moscow State University. A
historian with unmatched knowledge of Russian
history and culture. The Tajik working class
huddling together in a chaikhana with the proper
ambience of Dushanbe.
Chechens and Tuvans in awe doing the loop in
the Big Central Line. A lovely messenger sent by
friends extremely careful about security matters
to discuss issues of common interest.
Exceptionally accomplished musicians performing
underground in Mayakovskaya. A stunning Siberian
princess vibrant with unbounded energy, taking
that motto previously applied to the energy
industry – Power of Siberia – to a whole new
level.
A dear friend took me to Sunday service at
the Devyati Muchenikov Kizicheskikh church, the
favorite of Peter the Great: the quintessential
purity of Eastern Orthodoxy. Afterwards the
priests invited us for lunch in their communal
table, displaying not only their natural wisdom
but also an uproarious sense of humor.
At a classic Russian apartment crammed with
10,000 books and with a view to the Ministry of
Defense – plenty of jokes included – Father
Michael, in charge if Orthodox Christianity
relations with the Kremlin, sang the Russian
imperial anthem after an indelible night of
religious and cultural discussions.
I had the honor to meet some of those who
were particularly targeted by the imperial
machine of lies. Maria Butina – vilified by the
proverbial “spy who came in from the cold”
shtick – now a deputy at the Duma. Viktor Bout –
which pop culture metastasized into the “Lord of
War”, complete with Nic Cage movie: I was
speechless when he told me he was reading me in
maximum security prison in the USA, via pen
drives sent by his friends (he had no internet
access). The indefatigable, iron-willed Mira
Terada – tortured when she was in a U.S. prison,
now heading a foundation protecting children
caught in hard times.
I spent much treasured quality time and
engaged in invaluable discussions with Alexander
Dugin – the crucial Russian of these
post-everything times, a man of pure inner
beauty, exposed to unimaginable suffering after
the terrorist assassination of Darya Dugina, and
still able to muster a depth and reach when it
comes to drawing connections across the
philosophy, history and history of civilizations
spectrum that is virtually unmatched in the
West.
On the
offensive against Russophobia
And then there were the diplomatic, academic
and business meetings. From the head of
international investor relations of Norilsk
Nickel to Rosneft executives, not to mention the
EAEU’s Sergey Glazyev himself, side by side with
his top economic adviser Dmitry Mityaev, I was
given a crash course on the current A to Z of
Russian economy – including serious problems to
be addressed.
At the Valdai Club, what really mattered were
the meetings on the sidelines, much more than
the actual panels: that’s when Iranians,
Pakistanis, Turks, Syrians, Kurds, Palestinians,
Chinese tell you what is really in their hearts
and minds.
The official launch of the International
Movement of Russophiles was a special highlight
of these four weeks. A special message written
by President Putin was read by Foreign Minister
Lavrov, who then delivered his own speech.
Later, at the House of Receptions of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, four of us were
received by Lavrov at a private audience. Future
cultural projects were discussed. Lavrov was
extremely relaxed, displaying his matchless
sense of humor.
This is a cultural as much as a political
movement, designed to fight Russophobia and to
tell the Russian story, in all its immensely
rich aspects, especially to the Global South.
I am a founding member and my name is on the
charter. In my nearly four decades as a foreign
correspondent, I have never been part of any
political/cultural movement anywhere in the
world; nomad independents are a fierce breed.
But this is extremely serious: the current,
irredeemably mediocre self-described “elites” of
the collective West want no less than cancel
Russia all across the spectrum. No pasarán.
Spirituality, compassion, mercy
Decades happening in only four weeks imply
precious time needed to put it all in
perspective.
The initial gut feeling the day I arrived,
after a seven-hour walk under snow flurries, was
confirmed: this is the capital of the multipolar
world. I saw it among the West Asians at the
Valdai. I saw it talking to visiting Iranians,
Turks and Chinese. I saw it when over 40 African
delegations took over the whole area around the
Duma – the day Xi arrived in town. I saw it
throughout the reception across the Global South
to what Xi and Putin are proposing to the
overwhelming majority of the planet.
In Moscow you feel no crisis. No effects of
sanctions. No unemployment. No homeless people
in the streets. Minimal inflation. Import
substitution in all areas, especially
agriculture, has been a resounding success.
Supermarkets have everything – and more –
compared to the West. There’s an abundance of
first-rate restaurants. You can buy a Bentley or
a Loro Pianna cashmere coat you can’t even find
in Italy. We laughed about it chatting with
managers at the TSUM department store. At the
BiblioGlobus bookstore, one of them told me, “We
are the Resistance.”
By the way, I had the honor to deliver a talk
on the war in Ukraine at the coolest bookshop in
town, Bunker, mediated by my dear friend,
immensely knowledgeable Dima Babich. A huge
responsibility. Especially because Vladimir L.
was in the audience. He’s Ukrainian, and spent 8
years, up to 2022, telling it like it really was
to Russian radio, until he managed to leave –
after being held at gunpoint – using an internal
Ukrainian passport. Later we went to a Czech
beer hall where he detailed his extraordinary
story.
In Moscow, their toxic ghosts are always
lurking in the background. Yet one cannot but
feel sorry for the psycho Straussian neocons and
neoliberal-cons who now barely qualify as Zbig
“Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s puny orphans.
In the late 1990s, Brzezinski pontificated
that, “Ukraine, a new and important space on the
Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical center
because its very existence as an independent
state helps transform Russia. Without Ukraine,
Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.”
With or without a demilitarized and
denazified Ukraine, Russia has already changed
the narrative. This is not about becoming a
Eurasian empire again. This is about leading the
long, complex process of Eurasia integration –
already in effect – in parallel to supporting
true, sovereign independence across the Global
South.
I left Moscow – the Third Rome – towards
Constantinople – the Second Rome – one day
before Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai
Patrushev gave a devastating interview to
Rossiyskaya Gazeta once again outlining all the
essentialities inherent to the NATO vs. Russia
war.
This is what particularly struck me: “Our
centuries-old culture is based on spirituality,
compassion and mercy. Russia is a historical
defender of sovereignty and statehood of any
peoples who turned to it for help. She saved the
U.S. itself at least twice, during the
Revolutionary War and the Civil War. But I
believe that this time it is impractical to help
the United States maintain its integrity.”
In my last night, before hitting a Georgian
restaurant, I was guided by the perfect
companion off Pyatnitskaya to a promenade along
the Moscow River, beautiful rococo buildings
gloriously lighted, the scent of Spring –
finally – in the air. It’s one of those “Wild
Strawberry” moments out of Bergman’s masterpiece
that hits the bottom of our soul. Like mastering
the Tao in practice. Or the perfect meditative
insight at the top of the Himalayas, the Pamirs
or the Hindu Kush.
So the conclusion is inevitable. I’ll be
back. Soon.
Pepe's
latest book is
2030. Follow him on
Facebook.
Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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